Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
In developing nations, national parks could save endangered species
https://www.purdue.edu/newsroom/releases/2019/Q1/in-developing-nations,-national-parks-could-save-endangered-species.htmlMarch 7, 2019
In developing nations, national parks could save endangered species
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — The West African chimpanzee population has declined by nearly 80 percent in recent decades. Habitat loss is threatening their livelihoods across the continent, and especially in Senegal, where corporate mining has started eating up land in recent years.
The geographical distribution of West African chimps overlaps almost perfectly with gold and iron ore deposits, and unfortunately for the chimps, mining is a key piece of the country’s development strategy, said Stacy Lindshield, a biological anthropologist at Purdue University.
Extractive industries are already improving people’s livelihoods and promoting investment and infrastructure development, and researchers are trying to find a way to protect Senegal’s chimps without surrendering these benefits. Many of Earth’s animal species are now dying off at accelerated rates, but as human’s closest living relatives, they tend to tug at our heart strings. Chimps are scientifically important, too – because they participate in collective activities such as hunting and food-sharing, they’re often studied by social science researchers.
A new study of animal populations inside and outside a protected area in Senegal, Niokolo-Koba National Park, shows that protecting such an area from human interaction and development preserves not only chimps but many other mammal species. The findings were published in the journal Folia Primatologica.
…
https://dx.doi.org/10.1159/000496145In developing nations, national parks could save endangered species
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — The West African chimpanzee population has declined by nearly 80 percent in recent decades. Habitat loss is threatening their livelihoods across the continent, and especially in Senegal, where corporate mining has started eating up land in recent years.
The geographical distribution of West African chimps overlaps almost perfectly with gold and iron ore deposits, and unfortunately for the chimps, mining is a key piece of the country’s development strategy, said Stacy Lindshield, a biological anthropologist at Purdue University.
Extractive industries are already improving people’s livelihoods and promoting investment and infrastructure development, and researchers are trying to find a way to protect Senegal’s chimps without surrendering these benefits. Many of Earth’s animal species are now dying off at accelerated rates, but as human’s closest living relatives, they tend to tug at our heart strings. Chimps are scientifically important, too – because they participate in collective activities such as hunting and food-sharing, they’re often studied by social science researchers.
A new study of animal populations inside and outside a protected area in Senegal, Niokolo-Koba National Park, shows that protecting such an area from human interaction and development preserves not only chimps but many other mammal species. The findings were published in the journal Folia Primatologica.
…
